Actors, Rednecks, and Saints
by normansgirl
Summary: What happens when the McManus brothers, Dixon brothers, and the actors that play them run into each other and start to rely on each other during the zombie apocalypse? Keep an eye out for updates. Rated T for now just in case, may change later on if I get bored. Enjoy...
1. Chapter 1

Actors, Rednecks, and Saints

By: normansgirl

Chapter 1

Author's notes: This is my first multi chapter fanfic so bear with me. Also I am very much not Irish, sorry. Please r&r to let me know if you like it.

_He was running. Running for his life. _

**The sky was dark and he could hear thunder in the distance. Every few minutes lightning would strike, lighting up the sky.** _ He was running. Running away from something. _

**It was starting to rain and the wind was loud, screaming in his ears. He had been running for what seemed like hours, trying to escape them. They were so close he could hear their moans following close behind him. **

_ "I have to find him. I have to find my brother."_

**He had been running through the streets of South Boston trying to escape these things. The things that wanted him dead. He was trying to get home. Trying to find his brother. **

_ "I have to warn him." _

**By now it was so dark he could barely see a few feet in front of him and he was so tired. He was tired from running, but the things chasing him never got tired and never slowed down, so he kept running.**

_ "I have to find him. I have to protect Connor."_

**He turned another corner and he could see it. He could see the ratty old apartment building he shared with his brother at the end of the street. He was going to make it! There he would find his brother home and safe, and he could protect him there.**

_ "I have to protect Connor."_

**He started running faster trying to get home. But it was so dark he couldn't see where he was going and he tripped on the curb. He fell face first and twisted his ankle. He couldn't get up and he could hear them getting closer. Then he heard someone screaming. It was Connor. They got Connor!**

_ "No please, take me, not Connor! Connor!"_

**Murphy turned on his back trying to get up, trying to go help his brother. But when he turned over he saw them. For the first time since he started running, he saw**__**them. They looked like people but they weren't people. They were **_**dead**_**. Some had bite marks and scratches on their arms and legs. Some were missing limbs and some** **had guts hanging out. They were obviously dead. But they were still coming.**

**It only took a minute for the undead **_**things **_**to catch up to him. Half a dozen fell on top of Murphy and he started to scream. He could feel every bite and every scratch as the dead started to tear into him. He screamed his brother's name over and over again till his throat hurt, begging for his brother's help. And Connor answered him. He screamed for Murphy to come help him. The last thing Murphy heard were his and his brother's screams. They cried out for help and when the pain got to be too much they just screamed out in pain. Their screams intertwined and echoed throughout south Boston filling up the dark night sky. Then everything went black. **

"….Come on Murphy please wake up. Stop your screaming and wake up. It's alright you're safe, it's me, Connor," Connor sat hovering over Murphy holding his arms down to keep him from thrashing. "Please Murph wake up," Connor cooed to his brother trying to wake him up.

"Conn…." Murphy answered still half asleep.

"Yes Murph I'm here, wake up," Connor moved off his brother and sat next to him on his own sleeping bag. Murphy sat up and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, he was back in the two person tent he shared with his brother, "ye had another nightmare."

"Really, ye don' say," Murphy's accent was thicker from just waking up.

"Was it Boston," Connor asked looking concerned.

"O' course it was, when tis it not," Murphy mumbled. Murphy stood up, grabbed a pair of sweatpants, and left the tent. Connor did the same and followed going to sit on one of the folding chairs, while Murphy started up the fire to make breakfast.

"Do ye want to talk about it?" Connor asked watching his brother search for a lighter to start the fire. "It's getting worse; it's almost every day now. Are ye worried about somethin'?" Murphy wouldn't look at his brother as he lit the fire and murmured, "It's nothin'."

"We're safe here Murphy. It's not like back in Boston, we're safe here. We got out o' Boston and we're up here in the mountains and we haven't seen a walker in weeks. We're gonna be alrigh'." Connor tried to reason with his brother.

"I told ye, tisn' nothin Connor, its jus a dream." Murphy leaned over a bag and pulled out two cans of beans and set them over the small fire. "We finished the deer las' night. We need to go huntin' tomorrow."

"Aye….." And Connor let the dream go.

The two ate their breakfast and went about their day acting like nothing happen. They went down to the river for a few hours and spent the rest of the day running around their small camp site joking around and trying to keep each other entertained. By the time they finished eating their dinner the sun had gone down. They were lying on a blanket near the fire talking and finishing off a pack of cigarettes when they heard a girl start screaming.

"Connor….," Murphy asked as he and Connor both shot up to a sitting position.

"I know I hear it," Connor replied looking around at the trees trying to pinpoint which direction the scream was coming from. Not ten seconds later they heard more men and women start screaming and guns started going off.

"Where….," Murphy asked again starting to panic looking to his brother for answers.

"I don' know. Up here surrounded by mountains and trees there's no way o' tellin'," Connor replied.

"What should we….," Murphy jumped up and helped his brother stand waiting for his directions.

"Put out the fire and get into the tent."

"What, shouldn't we pack up and leave?"

"And go where, into the city? We can't even go in the day now cause it's so over run. Now hurry and get in the tent," Connor replied as he rolled up the blanket and went to pack their bags if they did need to run. Murphy quickly put out the fire and went to the tent. By the time Connor climbed in and laid down by his brother not 5 minutes later the screams and gun shots died off.

"Well at least they got it back under control, aye?"

"Or they're all dead. Conn what if all tha' noise brings walkers from the city up here," Murphy asked nervously.

"No I don' think it will. It sounded like it was a few miles away up the river. They won't bother us even if all tha' noise does bring 'em," Connor answered reassuringly. "Now try to get some sleep Murph, we'll figure it out tomorrow."

Murphy just nodded sleepily and rolled into his brother hiding his face in the crook of his neck. Connor wrapped a reassuring arm around his brother and they fell into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Daryl tossed his plate to the side and stood up from the picnic table. He walked around the group that was seated around the fire and walked straight for the edge of the campsite. He carefully crawled into the two person tent he shared with his brother, who was already fast asleep, and tried to fall asleep himself.

Daryl had just gotten back from a two day hunting trip tracking a buck for miles through the woods, and all he ended up with was a couple of squirrels and a walker opening up his deer. So now he was pissed off at everything and just wanted to go to sleep. Merle on the other hand wasn't making it easy with his loud and constant snoring right next to his ear. Daryl couldn't blame him, or not really. Merle had just come back with a small part of the group who spent all day in Atlanta. Apparently they had gotten trapped in a department store and barely made it back, yet still had time to steal a car and bring home a stranger. Sure the new guy just happened to help Glenn save the group that was trapped, including his brother. And he happened to be reunited with his wife, son, and best friend (who just happened to be running the group). But to Daryl he was just another mouth to feed, another body to protect.

So all in all the day was pretty useless and a waste of energy. And yet most of the group was choosing to stay up late, eating all the food they had saved up and of what little the group was able to bring back with them from the city. Apparently they were celebrating and the fact that the group was able to come back safe, and a family was reunited, was worth the waste of food. This of course only added to the noise and meant Daryl would have to drag Merle and himself out of bed early tomorrow if the group was going to eat. Daryl was beyond irritated and rolled over burying his face in his pillow.

Daryl had just started falling asleep when he suddenly heard something that sounded a lot like a girl screaming in pain. Daryl groaned into his pillow. Today was not his day. He sat up and hit Merle in the face with his pillow.

"The hell is wrong with you man….." Merle mumbled still half asleep.

"Get up and grab your gun," Daryl replied as he grabbed his crossbow and stuck his head out side to take a look.  
They crawled out of the tent, weapons in hand, and were greeted by people running around in circles yelling and guns being shot off in all directions. There were at least two dozen walkers stumbling around after people and from where the brothers stood, people were going down just as fast as walkers were.

Side by side, the brothers walked further into the camp and started firing off bolts and rounds taking down any walkers that got too close for their liking. They headed over to the RV where Shane and a small group where huddled together.

As they got closer they could hear what he was saying, "It's too late, there's too many Rick, their taking out more of us than we are of them," Shane yelled to the new guy over the noise.

"Alright we have to leave. It isn't safe here anymore," Rick yelled back.

"What about the rest of the group?" Lori asked anxiously.

"What about us," Dale decided to join in, "The camp is completely over run we have to leave."

"We can't leave them," Glenn tried to reason.

"I don't see a choice we can't save everyone," Rick stated.

"Everyone is running around panickin' and we'd just be wastin' time tryin' to save people already gone," Daryl added trying to move things along. "We have to move, now!"

"There's enough room for all of us in the RV, we have to go," Shane yelled as he shot two more walkers.

"Ya'll get in, we'll follow you out in my truck," Daryl stated as he and Merle started moving towards the old, blue, beat up pickup truck.

"Shane get everyone you can in the RV and be ready to move, Carl stay with your mother, Glenn come help me pack some supplies," and then Rick and Glenn ran off into the middle of all the panic with Shane yelling after them.

"Idiots both of 'em, we need to leave and they decide to split up in all this confusion to pack some undies," Merle scoffed as he took out another walker.

"Just give 'em a second we'll be out of here soon," Daryl said as they kept walking towards the car.

But at that moment a small pack of walkers came out from the woods and rounded on them. Daryl and Merle started backing up when Merle tripped and fell backwards. "Damn it," he said as Daryl put down the walkers then turned around to help his brother up.

"You ok," Daryl asked and Merle nodded. They looked up just in time to see Rick and Glenn get taken down by a couple of geeks and they let out tired sighs. There was nothing that they could do. Daryl turned to see Shane being pulled from the RV, by a walker, and that the vehicle was completely overrun.

The camp was now a lot quieter. There were still a few walkers stumbling around camp or leaning over bodies and looking content on staying there. Every member of the group was now either dead or dying. Guns had stopped firing by now and any noise heard was the soft crying of people still waiting to die as they were being ripped into. The ground was littered with bodies of men, women, and children, laying still, and bleeding out. The camp was completely over run in less than ten minutes and the brothers were the only people to survive the attack.

Merle looked over to Daryl, looking more tired than anything, and nodded forward. They started moving through the camp occasionally putting down walkers and people. They walked over to their tent, each grabbed a bag they kept packed with supplies, and walked off into the woods, side by side, leaving the camp behind.

"Well this place went to hell fast," Merle remarked casually.

"Yep."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Authors Note: Warning! Yes this chapter is about real life people aka the actors who play Connor and Murphy and Daryl. I said I would write about them in my summary. Don't yell at me because I'm not the only one to do it. Don't like don't read.

Now back to your regularly scheduled update. Enjoy…..

"Remind me again where we're going."

"Relax Norm the suns about down now, we can probably stop here for the night."

With that Norman dropped his bag and immediately lit a cigarette. Sean stopped to sit against a tree facing Norman and started looking through his bag for food.

"Really Sean what are we doing out here," Norman asked, "We've just been wondering around the cities for weeks since this thing started. Now you decide to come out to the woods, do we even have a plan?"

"No idea. It's not my fault we got stuck in Georgia when the world turned to shit," Sean replied. "For now all we can do is keep moving and keep looking for food."

Norman was pacing nervously looking around at the trees still sucking on his cancer stick. "I know we're running out of food but should we just be hanging out in the woods at night," Norman asked looking at the ten square feet of open space around them that wasn't covered by trees.

"Got a better idea I'd like to hear it. We can't stay in the cities anymore their packed with zombies. It's safer out here, probably less of 'em out here and we can start hunting around here tomorrow," Sean stated.

"Alright I was just thinking, you know," Norman said finally sitting down against a tree across from Sean.

"Well that explains why you've been acting weird today. Stop it you're gonna hurt yourself," Sean joked as he tossed a bottle of water hitting Norman in the chest receiving a quiet 'fuck you' and a small smile from Norman.

"If we eat tonight we're gonna have to try and start huntin' tomorrow cause we'll be about out of food."

"Well since I'm starving I think we're hunting tomorrow," Norman replied.

Sean nodded and continued to shift through his bag. He was able to find a bag of beef jerky and a bag of stale ranch onion chips. Sean sighed, realizing this was probably the last time he was going to eat real food. He opened the bags and set them on the ground between Norman and himself.

An hour later they had eaten their food and now sat in the dark with a small flashlight stuck in the dirt to give them some light. The nights were starting to get colder and every few minutes you could feel a light breeze. Norman and Sean sat with their legs tangled together and a light blanket over their legs. Norman lit another cigarette and blew a smoke ring over the light of the flashlight, watching it disappear. It was a nice cold evening and the guys just sat enjoying the comfortable silence.

But the silence was broken by a high pitched scream and the two turned to look through the trees behind Norman. Soon they could hear more people start screaming and guns started going off. Norman turned back to look at Sean and at that moment they had the same thought, 'What the hell?'

"Alright get up we need to move," Sean said as he stood up and started to roll up the blanket. Norman didn't argue as he put out his cigarette, grabbing the flashlight and his bag off the ground, and waited for Sean to start walking. Sean pulled out a flashlight of his own and the two started walking through the trees.

"Well now what do we do," Norman asked.

"Well it sounds like it's a little ways off maybe across the river," Sean replied. "But let's go ahead and walk for a few minutes and get a little further up river. We'll stop for the night then take off in the morning."

"What do we do about eating?"

"Hopefully find something to catch as we go along tomorrow," Sean reassured.

They continued to walk and not ten minutes later the screams and gun shoots died off. The woods were silent and still again. The only thing that could be heard now was the sound of wind and the soft crunch of leaves as they continued to walk.

They walked about another twenty minutes and dropped their bags once more. They each sat down against a tree across from each other and thread their legs together once more. Sean pulled the blanket back out and threw it over their legs.

"Hopefully there won't be any more surprises," Sean commented offhandedly.

"We better try to get some sleep," Norman replied, "Night."

"G'night." They both turned off their flashlights and fell into a light sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Authors Notes: Sorry the last chapter took so long to update the web site wouldn't let me upload it. Sorry this chapter took so long to update but it's rather long and I have been busy.

The first few chapters were the introductions. The first chapters, especially the last chapter, were short. The last chapter wasn't great (sorry) but it was just to introduce Norman and Sean. Hopefully the chapters will begin to get longer {like this one}. Thanks to all that are still reading. Remember to R&R to let me know how I'm doing so far.

Back story: The idea is that Connor and Murphy's camp is set up in a clearing at the top of a mountain/hill/thing and is fairly close to where the river ends. Daryl and Merle are walking up one side of the river and Sean and Norman the other. None of them know that the others exist and they believe they are alone in the woods.

Now let's see what happens when they meet…..

Connor and Murphy woke up late the next morning deciding to give up. They had a very restless sleep the night before, being woken up often and jumping at even the smallest noises. They were obviously not going to get anymore sleep.

So they slowly crawled out of their tent and walked sluggishly over to the two folding chairs seated around the long burnt out fire. The sun was high, it was around noon, and they both raised a hand to shield their eyes as they sat down. Connor leaned down and grabbed a lighter and two cigarettes. He lit the fire and his cigarette then handed one over to Murphy.

Murphy took the cigarette and put it between his lips, lighting it, and taking a long slow drag. "You know what I miss," Murphy asked, letting smoke slowly pour from his mouth.

Connor grunted in reply, not really listening to his brother, as he continued to rifle through his bag. Lately they had started hunting more, trying to save up their food, but Connor thought it best to go ahead and dip into what little was left of their savings. They were far too tired to hunt today.

"Coffee," Murphy declared.

Connor gave a chuckle. "I thought ye were going to say beer," he commented talking through a mouth of smoke.

"Well that too. God what I wouldn't give for a tall glass of Guiness, but no, right now I need coffee," Murphy replied, blowing a smoke ring.

"Why you tired…." Crack!

Connor stopped his teasing short when he heard the sound of a twig snap beneath a pair of feet from behind them. Silence followed for a few short seconds then the sound of feet walking over leaves could be heard. It was close and getting closer, only a few meters away, slowly but confidently, moving in the direction of the brother's camp. Connor jumped to his feet and turned around, quickly lifting a gun from its holster hanging on the side of his chair, and raised it ready for the attacker to make himself known. Murphy stood beside him, mirroring his stance, ready to fire. They waited for a minute, two, and then two large figures stepped out of the woods and into the light.

XXXXXXXXXX

Daryl woke up early the next morning before the sun was even up. He looked over to his still snoring brother and decided that it was best not to wake him. Daryl got to his feet and decided to take a walk instead, picking up his crossbow, and slinging it across his back. He turned and started walking through the trees eventually ending up by the side of the river where he sat down by the edge of the water. For a few minutes he just sat watching the water move, running around and over rocks. It continued downstream in the same direction the brothers came from after they left the camp. He splashed the cool water in his face to help him wake up and continued to sit, listening to the water, enjoying the nice quiet morning.

When the first rays of sun finally started to show Daryl decided to head back before his brother woke up and came looking. When he got back Merle was waiting for him, leaning against a tree and with his bag slung over his shoulder ready to move on. Daryl grabbed his bag up off the ground without saying a word and the two fell into step beside each other, matching the same pace. They walked in silence for about twenty minutes. Then Daryl decided to break it.

"So what's the plan?"

"There ain't one, not right now anyway," Merle replied.

"So we're just walking around randomly? Just keep moving forward," Daryl asked looking over to his older brother.

"For now, I guess. Maybe go down to the end of the river, there's food, water. Might as well go at least that far and put some space between us and that camp, right?"

"Right," Daryl replied. Silence fell around them once more and the brothers continued to walk in silence.

A few hours later and they were still walking. They made it to the end of the river and stopped to rest, but it didn't last long. Merle decided to keep moving only after half an hour simply because he became bored. So they started walking again, now moving gradually up hill. An hour later and the sun was high in the sky and it was about noon. Daryl looked down at the rope of squirrels he had hanging off his shoulder. He was able to shoot a few while they were walking this morning and it was hitting against his thigh with every step he took. He was about to suggest they stop and eat when Merle threw a hand out in front of him to stop him from walking. Daryl was about to ask what was wrong but then he heard a faint noise coming from about a dozen meters ahead of them. Merle looked to Daryl and nodded. Daryl wasn't sure what he was planning to do but he knew the signal. He readied his crossbow and began to walk silently alongside his brother. As they got closer they could tell that the noise they had heard was from at least two men talking and they could start to make out what they were saying.

"…..Right now I need coffee," a voice stated.

"Why you tired….." a second voice started to say but was stopped short, because at that moment Daryl stepped on a large twig that snapped in two under his weight. There was silence. Merle turned his head back to look at his younger brother and looked like he could strangle him. He waited a short moment, straightened up, and started walking, no longer caring if he made any noise. Daryl followed suit.

Daryl took a deep breath as he and Merle walked out into the clearing, bright sunlight hitting them, weapons raised to their faces, not knowing what to expect. What they found were two men of similar height, dressed identically in torn jeans, black t-shirts with brown beaded necklaces hanging down into them, and tennis shoes. They each held a hand gun {silencers attached at the ends} in their hand, each had a cigarette hanging from his mouth, and matching bright blue eyes. They had to be related, twins maybe. But not identical, one was blond and the other brunette and their faces looked very different. Or they probably did, when they weren't wearing identical death glares on their faces as they looked toward the pair of men that had entered their camp uninvited.

Connor and Murphy stood a few meters away from the Dixons, guns drawn ready to fire, but making no move to. They quickly looked over at each other then looked back to the intruders and started to size them up as well.

What the McManus brothers saw come out of the woods were two fully grown rednecks. They were probably brothers since they had similar blue eyes and used the same body language. There was an obvious age difference between them, maybe seven or eight years. One held a simple hand gun and carried a pocket knife, the other held a crossbow, had a large buck knife strapped to his hip, and had a rope hanging from his left shoulder with squirrels tied to it by their tails. They were covered in dirt and they looked like they belonged in the woods. The Irishmen would have laughed if it wasn't for the looks they were getting from their intruders.

The two pairs of brothers sat in complete an utter silence for five long minutes at least, studying each other, and waiting for someone to make a move. When no one did Murphy started to feel uncomfortable and shifted subconsciously on his feet at the same time Daryl turned his head to clear his throat audibly. Connor turned to look at Daryl, while Merle turned to look at Murphy. Something clicked at that moment in all their heads as they all looked between the two men in shock and when Merle and Connor made eye contact it was over. They smirked at each other then each turned towards their younger sibling smiling. Someone had to comment on it.

Connor immediately dropped his arm and started twisting his hand, hitting the gun against his upper thigh, and thinking. "Say Murph is there any more copies of ye running around out here that I should know about," Connor asked with as serious of a tone as he could use with a question like that. But the large smile on his face kind of ruined it.

With that the spell of still and silence was broken. Murphy dropped his arm holding his gun too and all but fell to the floor laughing. The McManus brothers continued to laugh hysterically and Daryl pulled a frown. He turned to his brother to suggest they sneak off while the idiots where busy falling over themselves and was surprised to find his brother was laughing as well. It started as a light chuckle, but as he watched the brothers falling over each other, still looking between Murphy and Daryl and making jokes, it became a deep throaty laugh. Daryl just rolled his eyes and stood in place uninterested, shouldering his crossbow, waiting for the twins and his brother to stop laughing. So what he looked somewhat like the young Irishman. Was it cause to have a mental break down when seconds ago they were pointing weapons at each other's head's.

When he caught his breath a few moments later Merle turned to Daryl with a grin.

"Cheer up son it looks like I found you a new play mate," Merle said slapping a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Ye got to admit we look a lot alike," Murphy added finally through laughing.

"Nah man I don't see it," Daryl said as he rolled his eyes and shrugged off Merle's hand.

"No, o' course not, you're right, nothin' similar at all," Connor laughed still trying to recover.

"Not unless you count the similar eyes and hair," Murphy teased, still smiling.

"Or the height," Merle pointed out just to spite his brother.

"Ye even have the same mark," Connor realized as he looked between the two faces. It was true; they each had a small mole on the upper left side of their mouths. If it wasn't for the fact that there was at least a five year difference between Daryl and Murphy you would have thought that they were twins.

"Well yeah, but I mean other than that," Daryl caved deciding to just go along with it.

After that ice breaker Connor and Murphy turned to put away their weapons and sat back down on their chairs. The Dixons slowly walked around to the other side of the fire to face the Irishmen, slightly confused. The McManus brothers had apparently decided the strangers were no threat at all while the Dixons still hadn't quite decided. Murphy noticed this and decided to change that.

"What's yer story," he asked looking between the brothers.

"What."

"Who are ye, what are ye doin' out here," Connor asked trying to start a conversation. There was a beat of silence where Connor decided to continue sifting threw the bag pulled up next to his chair. Murphy was right they were out of beans. They were actually almost completely out of food and all that left was old beef jerky and some crackers. Connor looked over to the younger of their guests, seeing the squirrels he carried, but decided to wait and see how this was going to play out.

"Who wants to know," Merle replied, watching Connor carefully as he looked through his bag.

"Oh sorry, where am me manners?"

"Ma would be ashamed," Connor said smiling a little sadly over to his brother.

Murphy smiled back reassuringly then replied, "I'm Murphy the ugly one over there is me Brother, Connor," Murphy stated with a smirk plastered across his face once more.

Connor ignored his younger brother and straightened up waiting for their 'attackers' to introduce their selves.

"Connor and Murphy huh," Daryl repeated.

"Yeah."

"Daryl, the thick one is Merle," Daryl answered with a hint of a smile. Merle looked at his brother, "The hell is that supposed to mean."

"I think he was trying to say…." Murphy started with a grin but was shushed by Connor.

"What was that clover," Merle asked slightly annoyed.

"What the hell did ye call me," Murphy snapped back.

"Let it go man we're just talkin'," Daryl said looking over to his brother trying to stop him from starting a fight.

"No I want to know what he was going to say."

"Guess he meant thick as in daft too," Murphy sort of whispered to his brother trying to suppress a laugh and receiving a disappointed look from Connor, Merle still heard him.

"The fuck you call me," Merle shot at Murphy, his voice rising to almost a yell.

"Relax bro I started it."

"It's one thing for you to," Merle stated annoyed.

"Murphy had no right," Connor cut in as he glared at his brother.

"Why the hell are ye defending him," Murphy yelled at his brother, now getting to his feet. Connor stood up beside him.

"Better listen to mommy clover," Merle snickered.

"Drop it Merle," Daryl warned again getting ready to move between Murphy and his brother. Why couldn't he just have a normal conversation with anyone?

"The fuck ye say to me," Murphy turned to now yell at Merle.

"Alright let's all just calm the fuck down," Connor yelled over the noise.

XXXXXXXXX

Norman woke up the next morning to a bright yellow ray of sunlight coming through the leaves of a tree standing just next to him. It was midmorning, maybe nine. Of course what light that was showing would find his face and wake him up. Norman cursed softly. He sat up a little straighter and stretched his arms over his head, looking around. 'Well at least we survived the night' Norman thought to himself. He then looked over to Sean.

Sean had at some point during the night stolen the blanket and had it tucked up to his chin. He was still asleep, his face in the shade of his tree, snoring softly. Norman carefully unhooked their ankles then kicked Sean's foot trying to wake him up.

Sean groaned loudly and covered his face with the blanket, whining, "Maaaa, five more minutes."

Norman laughed lightly, kicking him again. Now Sean was awake.

"What the hell Norm?"

"Get up I thought we were gonna keep moving today," Norman replied.

"You couldn't wait five minutes," Sean asked annoyed.

"Stop being lazy and get up," Norman replied as he stood up himself. "Normally you have to say that to me. Now come on, where are we heading?"

"I was thinkin' we could walk down to the end of the river or find a clearing at the top of one of these mountains," Sean suggested with a shrug. "I'm not really sure yet. Let's just start walkin' and see what we can find I guess."

Norman nodded in agreement and rolled up the blanket, handing it to Sean as he stood, and watched him pack it. Then they started walking up the side of the river talking freely.

Not two hours later and they had passed the end of the river. Norman had suggested they stop to fish and eat, but Sean wanted to keep going to see what else they could find. Soon they were walking up the side of a mountain hoping to soon find a clearing to rest in. It wasn't long till they were again walking on level ground, close to the top. Norman looked over to Sean to say something but stopped when he thought he heard something.

"Sean do you hear that," Norman asked.

"Yeah I hear it," Sean replied. And with that Sean kept walking towards the noise, Norman following close, curiosity had them.

As they got closer they could tell it was voices. After ten feet they could tell they were yelling. As they approached the edge of the tree line (which appeared to be leading into a clearing) it sounded like they were walking in at the beginning of a fist fight, and could now understand what all the separate voices were saying.

"Drop it Merle."

"The fuck ye say to me?"

"Alright let's all just calm the fuck down."

"Don't tell me to calm down."

At that moment Norman and Sean decided to enter the clearing, guns raised.

In less than a minute the group of men arguing stopped and in the same moment they all turned and raised their weapons to their attackers. Silence fell over the mountain once more. No one moved, no one spoke, no one hardly dared to breathe. The two groups stood maybe a few meters from each other in silence, all studying each other, and then they saw it.

"What the…."

"How…."

"Fuck," Daryl and Murphy said in the same breath. They glared for a second at each other then turned back to face the intruders.

The group of men stood in place across from the two men that had just joined their group, staring at almost exact replicas of both Murphy and Daryl and of Connor.

After a moment's pause, "I think I had a nightmare like this once," Sean said trying to make a joke. "The last thing the world needed was three of you runnin' around, huh," Sean said looking over to Norman.

Norman didn't answer; he seemed to be in shock looking across to the center of the camp at his two newly found clones.

"Like one of ye wasn't bad enough," Murphy said to his brother, catching Sean's attention. He looked back at the group of men in front of him and locked eyes similar to his own, finding he had a look alike too.

"This is insane," Daryl threw in, and Merle nodded vaguely.

A few more minutes passed in silence and now it was just becoming uncomfortable. Connor decided to be the mature one (what could go wrong, he thought) and lowered his gun. The thing was Sean decided the same and lowered his in the same moment. They looked at each other for a moment then each gave a curt nod of understanding. Then they waited to see what the others would decide for themselves. 'Hopefully we can all get along' Connor thought to himself.

One by one everyone else slowly lowered their weapons, the McManus brothers holstering theirs on their chairs and slowly inched closer to each other testing the waters. They now made one group and were in a large circle, stretched out, looking around at each other. The question on everyone's mind was simple, 'What do we do now'.

XXXXXXXXXX

(A little over an hour earlier….)

A herd of walkers, twice the size of the one that took out the Dixon's camp, was stumbling around at the bottom of the mountain on the opposite side of where the Dixon's had walked up. They would have passed by the mountain if it wasn't for a few of the walkers hearing a faint noise coming down from the top of the mountain. It turns out the noise was coming from the Dixon's and the McManus' argument. Slowly they turned to start walking up the side of the mountain following the noises. Then the rest of the herd followed, all stumbling out the side of the mountain, expecting to find something eat.

XXXXXXXX

Murphy was again the one to jump start the conversation. "So what's your story," he asked looking between the two new members of the group. This seemed to catch everyone's attention, easy enough question to focus on. So now they all looked to Norman and Sean waiting for them to speak.

Sean looked over to Norman; only slightly worried, hoping he would answer since he hadn't said anything since they came to the clearing and meet the group.

Norman knew this and panicked, "Who wants to know," is all he could offer.

Murphy went through the line, "I'm Murphy, my brother Connor," Connor offered a smile as a hello. "That's Daryl and his brother Merle," at least Daryl nodded, Merle was still wary of the whole group and stood like a statue watching everything play out as it was going to in front of him.

"I'm Norman and that's Sean," Norman answered now recovered. "Hey," Sean greeted politely. "We were just kind of walking around out in the cities for the first couple of weeks of this, you know, looking for a place to set up," Norman continued. "We kind of got stuck out here in Georgia when all this stuff happened. We've just kept moving, ended up out here, hoping to set up somewhere safe."

"Thought it might be better out here in the woods, at least more food," Sean added at the end as an afterthought.

"Same here," Daryl stated simply. He looked to his brother waiting for him to comment but he just sat there and continued to watch. Daryl turned back to the group expecting the Irishmen to take a turn in explaining why they were there. Now everyone was just trying to decide where to go from there after the introductions ended.

"This is our camp; we've been set up out here since the beginning. Came down from Boston for a piece of work and got stuck out here when the world went to hell," Murphy began to explain. This was partly true.

When word first started about the 'apocalypse' it was just rumors in the North of the contry, strange stories from the news, no one knew what to believe. The first encounter the brothers had with any zombies was on the night before they came to Georgia. They were walking home late at night from the local bar completely plastered when two came staggering out of an alley. The boys had thought they were drunkards, until they attacked. Without their guns and being in no condition to fight Connor and Murphy ran to the safety of their fifth story apartment. They now knew the strange stories were true and had no idea of what to do except hope it would pass. They were relieved that the same morning Agent Smecker had an assignment for them that would involve them going to Georgia. They jumped at the chance to get out of town for a few days. After they got to Georgia the worst of what was happening hit. It was the end of the world and the brothers grabbed what they could and ran to the woods, hoping to be safe.

"We grabbed what supplies we could from the city and haven't been back since. No need really we've been doin' fine out here," Connor finished.

"What kind of work," Merle asked, simply curious.

"Ancient history," was the only answer Connor gave.

"Come on what's it gonna hurt," Norman pushed.

The brothers looked at each other for a second. "Our job _was_ to keep people on the right track," Connor hinted.

"So what, did you work with the police or something," Daryl asked just trying to get a straight forward answer.

"Well not really, although we did work with them often," Murphy said with a knowing smile.

Sean decided to cut in since they obviously weren't going to get a real answer. After a slight pause he asked, "So now what." He didn't ask anyone in particular, but he had hoped someone would give an answer.

No one did and the group fell into another awkward silence. But not a minute later and Connor and Murphy had an idea; deciding there was no longer any danger, they turned on their heels and walked back to their chairs.

As he sat down Connor looked over at Daryl, "Ye gonna share?"

Daryl looked down at the long forgot rope of squirrels hanging off his shoulder and suddenly remembered he was hungry. He looked up to see the whole group now looking down at the squirrels longingly, apparently they remembered too. Six squirrels, six guys, all hungry, 'Hell why not?' Daryl thought to himself. Then he walked to face opposite of Connor from across the unlit fire and threw him the rope of squirrels. Connor caught it easily with a grin and the twins set to work preparing a late lunch for the newly formed group. The rest eventually came and sat down around the fire waiting to be fed. Slowly they all began to relax.

Not thirty minutes later and all six squirrels were hanging over the fire cooking.

No one had really talked much (nothing to talk about) and so they had all just sat in a comfortable silence waiting for food, slowly getting use to each other's presence.

Ten minutes later and Murphy decided enough was enough, 'Healthy or not, I'm starving', and he reached over to grab his squirrel. This set off a chain reaction and not a minute later they were all happily eating what little meat they had, happy to have any. Connor at some point threw the jerky and crackers into the center of their circle and everyone grabbed their own water.

Now that they were all fed and less tense Murphy decided to try and start a conversation. The silence was driving him mad. But of course before he was able to say anything the group was interrupted once again.

"I swear if one of them doesn't look like you I'ma be pissed," Daryl groaned looking to his brother then merely turned on the spot where he was sitting to look behind him. The rest of the group did the same and looked across the camp past the McManus brothers' tent, and waited for the noisy intruder.

The 'intruder' turned out to be a walker stumbling nosily into the clearing. Everyone tensed slightly upon seeing it out of instinct, their hands itching to grab their choice of weapon, watching nervously as it walked closer.

Everyone except Murphy. "Relax I got it," he said grabbing a throwing knife out of the side of his bag and with a lazy flick of the wrist it landed in the walker's eye and it fell backwards from thirty feet away.

"Nice one there Murph," Connor praised his brother as he walked over to retrieve his knife with eyes following him around the camp. He pulled out his knife, straightened up, and took a bow towards his audience.

"Not bad clover," Merle mused and he actually meant it as a complement.

"Thanks Red," Murphy said with a wink and sat back down, Merle let it go, a small smile pulling at the side of his lip.

Just as they had a conversation start there was another noise, then another walker came out from where the first had come. Daryl was the first to act. He shot his crossbow and walked to the edge of the tree line to retrieve the arrow.

But as he leaned down to pull out the arrow he could hear more pairs of feet and groans coming through the trees. He looked up and could see at least a dozen walkers moving clumsily through the trees walking closer to the camp. "Shit."

Daryl stumbled back into the clearing and reloaded his crossbow. "Merle," he shouted out of instinct to warn his brother. "Connor, guys," he called to warn his newly formed group.

"What do you see," Merle answered his younger brother, standing and pulling his gun.

"Walkers," Daryl shouted backing up seeing that there were far more than twelve, there had to be at least three dozen all walking up across the side of the mountain, and there had to be more coming.

"How many," Sean asked standing and giving Norman a hand up.

"Too many to deal with," Daryl replied continuing to back up to where the group was standing as walkers started to walk out into the clearing. "It's like a herd of 'em, we have to go, grab what you can," Daryl instructed as he shot a walker that was getting too close to the group. Sean covered him and shot two more, then everyone scrambled for their bags. Now the clearing was flooding with walkers, all stumbling forward and grabbing at the men in front of them. Norman and Sean both got a shot off from behind Merle, but ended up turning first and leading the group down the hill. They were moving as fast as they could, firing shots behind them and putting a few more walkers down. When they got to the bottom they took off at a run trying to put as much space as they could between them and the herd. Half the herd was still coming down the hill, the rest following after the group, some rather quickly but still couldn't quit keep up. And to make things worse the noise they had made was bringing a few strays from the sides after them as well. So the group continued to run, only stopping twice for a few short minutes to catch their breaths, then continued to run until they got to the end of the river about an hour later. When they got there they all collapsed by the side of the river panting and splashing water in their faces. For now there was enough space between them and the herd that they could stop and rest. After a few minutes of recovery and remembering how to breathe Murphy was the first to speak.

"Well what the hell are we suppose to do now."

"We rest a few minutes and we keep moving out of these woods," Connor replied as if it were an obvious answer. "That herd is just gonna keep on comin', best we keep movin' too. It's time to move on"

"What?"

"Right it's best we keep moving," Sean agreed.

"Where we gonna go?" Norman asked.

"Look Leprechaun's right we can't stay out here, they'll get here eventually we need to keep moving and hunker down before night fall," Merle commented.

"We can't go to Atlanta it's over run," Daryl said just stating a fact and dismissing the option.

"Daryl's right it's not safe in the cities and we don't have a car. We try to hole up in Atlanta and we'll get stuck and if we try to walk past it on foot we'll be stuck out in the open after dark," Norman tried to reason hoping for a safer plan.

"Got a better idea," Merle asked open for suggestions because soon they would have to decide. None of the guys knew when the decision had been made but it was clear and simple fact now that they actually were a group and they weren't splitting up. So they had to come to a decision, fast.

"Come on Norm, its best if we just keep movin'," Sean tried to reassure him.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes and then soon decided that it was best to keep moving. They all took a drink, grabbed their bags, and started walking back towards the city. It was around three in the afternoon and they had a long walk back to Atlanta to figure out what exactly they were going to do before night fall.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

(Four days later…..)

"I can't believe we're already out of gas," Merle exclaimed as he kicked the front tire on the driver's side of the car.

"I told you to stop to scavenge cars before turning off the highway," Norman said. "How far did you think we were going to get on a tank and two cans of gas?"

Within the last few days the group had walked to Atlanta before sunset, broke into a convenient store (filling three bags they found with water bottles, cigarettes, lighters, two six packs of beer, crackers, chips and canned beans), stole a Chevy Suburban, and followed any small off roads they could to get as far from any big Georgia cities as possible. They only stopped at night to camp and had planned to drive east out of Georgia, through South Carolina, and head for the coast. Of course this now meant they were stuck in the middle of Georgia on a long narrow rode that stretched on for miles, with fields covering either side of the rode, and hardly any trees for cover. They were easily seven miles from the nearest gas station and ten from the nearest town, with only enough food for a few days and it was an hour till sun down.

Now the group stood around the car, judging it silently.

"I thought it would at least get us out of Georgia," replied Merle mostly to himself. "It ain't like we're that far off."

"Are you kidding, it'll take two days to walk from here," Daryl spoke up.

"Looks like we're here for the night then," stated Sean walking around to the back of the car to start pulling out their bags. "Let's set up for the night."

Within fifteen minutes the group had set their bags down in a pile and had started a fire between two small trees about twenty yards from the road. Connor pulled out a few cans from one of the bags and went to sit in front of the low burning fire to start warming supper. Norman and Sean sat across the fire from Connor, waiting for food, and Merle sat against the tree to his left. Murphy stood leaning against the tree to his right and pulled a package of cigarettes from his back pocket in desperate need of one. Daryl was standing by his side and reached his arm out, tapping Murphy's forearm. Murphy let Daryl take one out of the package then after lighting his own he lit Daryl's for him without needing to be asked. After camping and being stuck in a car together for five days the guys had become pretty comfortable with each other; they had a good idea of the type of people they were hanging around and knew their strengths and weaknesses.

The group was made up of decent men, with short tempers, good instincts, and great senses of humor, all coming from completely different backgrounds. Norman and Sean were more city boys, working in the filming industry (at this time early in their careers and hardly known), meeting each other in an audition and becoming best friends, but the film didn't get very far and now wouldn't since the apocalypse hit. Sean was from Texas and was a black belt. Norman had currently been living in New York and was an artist. They were both good with a gun.

Daryl and Merle grew up in the Georgia woods knowing how to hunt, fish, trap, etc. and survive alone in the woods. They could both use guns and Daryl was good with a crossbow. They had spent most of their time in the woods growing up to stay away from their abusive father, especially after their mother died. Daryl spent all his free time out in the woods alone while Merle was in Juvie and after he left home.

Connor and Murphy grew up in Ireland with their ma, their father having walked out when they were babies. They were close ever since they were little and spent most of their time alone because their mom had to work odd hours to keep them going. When they got older they worked odd jobs, mostly on farms, for extra money. They left Ireland and moved to Boston together in their twenties after saving enough money and still to this day have never been separate for more than about two hours and it was rare to see only one of them. Connor taught himself to trap and snare and Murphy had picked up on using throwing knives, they both could use guns.

Their first night of camping together after everyone had their beers and everyone had begun to relax each pair took turns telling their stories with Connor and Murphy going first. The brothers also told the group about their work back in Boston after being asked again. After hearing everyone's stories the group got a better understanding of each other and the twins actually earned even more respect for their work because the rest of the group believed in what they had been doing, wrong or not. Norman, Sean, and the Dixon's told there short pieces and though it wasn't discussed the group suspected the Dixon's had come from an abusive background and always gave them space when it was needed. After that night the group had become pretty close and now had a mutual understanding of each other.

As odd as they all were they worked together well and trusted each other almost completely. That trust had been earned from being attacked twice on the road at night from small groups of walkers. The group had helped each other, not only protecting their brothers or friends, but they had all protected each other. They didn't spend all their time talking but when they did it was always polite conversation and they kept each other entertained. Connor and Murphy were always the most active and tried to keep the mood light. At night when they stopped to camp they would always try to mess around with the group or staying close by and still go off to play with each other like they were kids again; Sean and Norman were always eager to join in on the fun. Even Daryl and Merle had gotten bored enough just yesterday and slowly joined in on their fun, kicking around big rocks and running around to blow off steam the night before.

Now the group sat close together around the fire as the sun slowly disappeared behind their car and the stars started to shine bright in the clear night sky. Daryl had sat by his brother and Murphy followed him sitting between him and Connor, Sean sat to the right of Connor and Norman sat between Sean and Merle. Everyone was smoking, except for Sean, and a large can of beans sat between every two people. They sat there in their group for hours after sunset that night talking, smoking, eating and laughing freely. They were a strange looking group, as anyone could see just with one look at them, but they got along well and enjoyed each other's company. As the fire started to burn out Norman stood up and walked over to the pile of bags and dug out everyone's blankets tossing them to their owners. That night the group slept peacefully through the night without a problem and slept late into the next morning.

That's when everything went wrong…..

It was ten o'clock in the morning and sun was shining bright over the still sleeping group. At this moment it was quiet, still. But that would all soon change and the air around them would be filled with screams and gun fire.

To BE Continued…


End file.
